Planning a Disney-themed Birthday Party

Children love picking a theme for their birthday party and many parents enjoy planning them too. Inventing and creating games, food, invitations, and other party activities that stick to a specific theme can be a tough task. Below are some ideas for several Disney theme parties to help you brainstorm and get started on your little one’s next celebration.

Invitations

The first element of the party that your guests will see and receive-even if they do not attend-are the invitations. With such a vast array of internet resources available today there are many printable options that can be very simple to put together. Or you can create your own with a few craft supplies. For example, Aladdin is a classic Disney film that still continues to capture the attention of young audiences. An easy do-it-yourself invitation for an Aladdin themed party is to create a Flying Carpet Invitation.

Cut out a 7-by-4 ½ inch rectangle from a sheet of purple cardstock

Next, cut out a 6-by-3 ½ inch rectangle from a sheet of light blue card stock.

Use a fine point marker to write all party information in the center of the light blue rectangle. Necessary information should include date, time, location, and RSVP instructions.

Glue the light blue rectangle on top of the purple cardstock.

Place yellow, red, and silver rhinestones around the edges and corners of the light blue cardstock to your liking. This can even be a fun task to include the birthday child if they are old enough.

Create four yellow yarn tassels for each invitation and apply to all 4 corners with a hot glue gun to adhere to the corner of the magic carpet. Cool completely before placing in envelopes.

Party Décor

The Party decorations are the second part of the celebration that guests get to view. Tying your party décor in with your Disney theme can be a fun task. One neat idea is to make Scare Floor Garland for a Monsters Inc. themed party. For this decoration you will use various light colored sheets of craft paper.

Cut craft paper into rectangles about the size of a greeting card.

Decorate the rectangles to look like doors by gluing lighter strips of paper to appear as windowpanes. Make square or arched windows, small or large windows, the possibilities are really endless.

Glue a button to act as the doorknob.

Lastly, punch two holes at the top corners of the rectangle and string a cord, yarn, or ribbon through the Scare Floor Garland and hang throughout the party area.

Party Games

One of the most popular animated Disney characters in the world is Mickey Mouse. If a Mickey Mouse themed party is something your child would enjoy, a game of Hidden Mickey Scavenger Hunt is great for all ages.

Create Mickey Mouse shaped “Hidden Mickeys” with card stock by cutting two small circles (Mickey ears) and gluing them to a larger circle, or by stapling 2 small paper plates (Mickey ears) to a larger paper plate.

Before the party starts, the Mickeys should be hidden in an area of the house, or party area, that will not be populated during the majority of the celebration. The Mickeys should be hidden in plain sight, but only visible from certain angles.

The child who collects the most Hidden Mickeys in the time given wins a prize.

Another Disney favorite is Toy Story. With the time of release of all three of its films, Toy Story easily appeals to multiple generations. A very easy game that kids really get excited about is called Woody’s Wink. All you need for this game is one deck of cards.

Gather guests in a tight circle and distribute as many cards from the deck as are in the group. Be sure to include the Ace of Spades as it is this card which decides who will be Woody.

Everyone places their card face down on the floor or table in front of them and waits for the first wink.

The guests in the circle are Woody’s opponents. It is Woody’s mission to secretly wink his challengers out of the game. He has to be very careful and no one may see him wink.

When someone gets winked at by Woody they have to flip their card over and place it in the middle of the group and declare their dismissal.

If Woody does get caught winking by an opponent, he is challenged and has to flip over his card and the game is over. If the challenge is incorrect then the accuser is out of the game.

Party Food & Birthday Cake

Disney’s Cars is a fun party theme for kids. Once you read about one car themed party food it is easy to come up with more of your own. One simple party snack is cutting a small piece out of the top of a “fun-size” Milky Way candy bar and placing a Teddy Graham in the hole, the Teddy Graham will look like the car driver. Next, you will take 4 M&M’s or Skittles and place them around the candy bar to act as the wheels, use frosting to apply the “wheels”. For a healthier Cars snack you can use apple slices and grapes. Simply place two toothpicks through each

end of the apple slice, the apple skin is face up, and place a grape on each end of the two toothpicks. The grapes act as the wheels in this healthy party snack. Some party planning parents decide to bake a cake or cupcakes themselves rather than purchasing from a local bakery. A very easy and adorable idea for an Up themed party is having various colored cupcakes act as the balloons from the Disney movie.

Take various colored frosted cupcakes and place together like a bouquet of balloons on a large sheet of cardboard.

At the bottom of the cardboard either draw a picture of a house, or glue a printed picture.

Then attach ribbon from the bottom of each cupcake to the top of the house. This really ties the cake portion of the party to the theme.

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